Prayer Journal

Contrary to popular belief, God cannot answer the prayers of an unrighteous person. Even if we are Born Again, if we harbor unconfessed sin in our heart, God will not stay in our presence (Psalm 66:18; Proverbs 15:29).

Otherwise, there is no sin too horrific or concern too trivial to bring to Him in prayer. We can talk to God about anything and everything that is on our mind, and then sit in companionable silence to listen as He speaks to us. 

So many people are intimidated by the concept of prayer. They hesitate to speak to God, because they think that He is too busy with the rest of the world to be bothered by our petty concerns.

They would never, ever pray in public, because they are afraid that people might judge their efforts and find them lacking. Yet, prayer is as easy as talking to your best friend. Jesus is our very best friend (Proverbs 18:24).

The only perfect, righteous man ever to live on planet earth bore the shame of the sins of every person ever born. Yet, He is our Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep (John 10:11).

He willingly gave up His life for our eternal security (John 10:16-18, 15:13). He loves us without measure. He gave us His Word as our comfort and our guide.

Praying Bible verses gives us the life-giving power of the Word behind our prayers. These verses were well written by people who felt just like we do. They inspire us to pray using our own words too.

We can journal in a notebook as we pray, in order to record the issues on our heart. Then, when God answers those prayers we can record the date in our journal, which will increase our faith.

Taking time to listen to God's answers as we pray allows Him to communicate with us in His still, small voice in the center of our being - in our spirit.

The more we sit in those quiet moments, the more we will hear from God, and the more we will come to recognize His voice (Psalm 46:10). He will lead us throughout our day in this same way.

Prayer:

Father God, prayer is the opportunity to speak to You, the God of the Universe. There is no being higher than You and Your ways are beyond human reasoning, because You already know the end from the beginning.

Listening to Your truth through Your Word and by You speaking to us in times of prayer is the greatest opportunity we can ever experience on this earth. We find our true joy only in Your presence in our life.

Draw us ever closer to Your heart and remind us that You are waiting to hear our voice in praise to Your glory, in contrition for our sins, and in wonder, both for who You are and for all that You do for us each day.

Thought for the Day:

Although God may not give us the answer we requested in our prayers, He will always give us something better; even if it does not seem like it at the time.

Jesus as the Great "I AM"

The inerrant and infallible Word of God affirms, establishes and proves the divinity of Jesus Christ. The number of prophecies in the Bible that Jesus fulfilled defies chance. If you fill the state of Texas three feet high with silver dollars, fly over the state in a plane and randomly drop one silver dollar marked with an “X”, the chances of someone finding that marked coin is equal to the probability of one single person fulfilling the more than 300 Biblical prophecies that Jesus fulfills.

For example Psalm 45 is a Messianic passage speaking to Jesus as God (Hebrews 1:8; Psalm 45:6; Isaiah 9:6. God appeared in bodily form as Jesus (1 Timothy 3:16). Jesus has the form of God (Philippians 2:5-11). Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of the image of the invisible God (Hebrews 1:2-3; Colossians 1: 15). Jesus assigns Himself divine privileges (Mark 2:27-28, Luke 5:20, and John 11: 43-44). He is the Son of God (Psalm 2: 7,12). He is the Lord (Psalm 110:1).  Jesus is the Christ, the Word, and the Word is God (John 1:1,14, 18; 10:33; 20:28-31).

In the original language of the following verses, Jesus identifies Himself with God as the great “I Am” of the burning bush (Exodus 3:14). He declares, “I am the bread of life" (John 6:35); "I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25); “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12); “I am the door (gate)” by which the sheep enter their pen for safety and provision (John 10:7, 9, 11); “I am the Good Shepherd (John 10:11); “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6) and “I am the true vine (John 15:1).

To expound upon some of these, Jesus says He is the bread of life because bread is the symbol for the basic necessities of life. Jesus is saying that He is the source for all of our needs. We can cast our cares on Him, because he definitely cares for us (1 Peter 5:7; Psalm 55:22). Jesus is also the light of men, which shines in the darkness (Psalm 27:1; 119:105; Proverbs 6:23; Habakkuk 3:3-4; Psalm 44:30; Isaiah 49:6; Zechariah 14:5-7). Those lost in the darkness of sin do not understand this, because the Light is not in them (John 1:4-5; 11:9-10). 

Jesus is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11). He keeps, feeds and leads the sheep. As sheep we are utterly helpless and dependent upon our Shepherd, who ultimately laid down His life, as the sacrificial Lamb, for us (John 10:16; 1 John 3:16; John 1:29,35).  In doing this, He also became our Resurrection and our Life (John 11:23-25). He imparts eternal life to us now, while we still live on this earth as His children. Then when we take our last breath of air on this earth, our very next breath will be in Heaven. If we believe in Him, we will live and not die for all eternity (John 11:25-26).

Jesus is our life, and He is also the only Way to Heaven. He is our Truth as well (John 14:6). Jesus is not one of many saviors, but the only Savior of the world. Jesus is God, who became flesh to sacrifice Himself in our place and to pay the debt of our sin (John 1:1,14). There are many concepts proclaimed as truth today. Most of them are satanic lies disguised as truth in order to deceive gullible people who choose not to believe in The Truth of the gospel for salvation.

Jesus is also the True Vine, we are His branches and God is the vinedresser (John 15:1-8). The nutrients for the branches come from the vine. Apart from Him, we cannot bear fruit; in fact, we can do nothing (John 15:5). God prunes away the unfruitful branches from the vine. Then, He prunes the fruitful branches, so that we will be able to produce even more fruit (Matthew 7:19). God chooses those who believe in Him and He appoints us to go and bear fruit that will last (John 15:16).

Jesus also referred to Himself as “I am” when He spoke to the Jews. "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58). Then latter, He declares to His disciples, "I tell you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I AM" (John 13:13:19). He also says, "Unless you believe that I AM, you will die in your sins" (John 8:24).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, John the Baptist stated that You are the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29, 32-36). You use all of these analogies to show us that You are the One Way to receive eternal life (John 3: 16-18). John recorded his gospel about You, so that we can believe that You are the Light of the world. We find life only by believing on Your name, because You are the Son of God, and the Savior of the World (John 4:42; John 20; 30-31).

Thought for the Day:

Jesus commissions His Saints to shine in the world as lights of His truth. He makes us a lighted city on a hill, which cannot be hidden. - Matthew 5:14

The Battle for Our Soul

Read: 1 Corinthians 15:3-6

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." - Romans 5:8

Many human beings have a need to understand God, before they agree to believe in Him. They have such a strong compulsion to control their own life and everything that happens in it, that they dare not rely on anyone but their own self. They use human wisdom for all of their decisions, and they collect friends around them that agree with then. They feel safe somehow in trusting only in that which they can prove and believing only in that which makes sense to the human mind.

Added to our human reasoning is Satan’s perfected art of deception. He often draws us away from following after God by his fraudulent schemes. Add to this our own lusts and the powerful temptations from living life in the world, and it is amazing that anyone ever actually chooses to surrender their life completely to God. Our sin nature doomed us to failure since birth; but Jesus Christ set us free from sin and death by His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension (Romans 8:2).

Only the Spirit of God can break down our walls of fear and mistrust and allow us to fully embrace a relationship that starts with our total submission to God through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Once we come to faith in Christ, we still often hesitate to relinquish to Him the power over our existence. We have a lifetime of experience with people letting us down, disappointing us and breaking their promises and commitments to us. Eventually, God’s Spirit leads us to the point in our life where we step over this boundary of fear into the freedom of faith and trust in Him.

At this point, we often swing to the opposite side of the pendulum. We are totally committed to Christ and we do not want to displease Him. Therefore, we diligently search the Bible in order to completely understand the rules and regulation of the law and what He wants from us. We attempt to religiously adhere to even the most vague letter of the law (Matthew 5:18). Our heart is in the right place, because we do not want to disappoint God. However, no amount of striving will produce any amount of righteousness in us at all (Titus 3:5; Ephesians 2:9). Every bit of our righteousness amounts to nothing more than a pile of old, dirty rags (Isaiah 64:6).

God knows that we will drive our self crazy, if we continue to attempt to maintain control over our life. According to the Bible, those who trust in their own efforts are foolish (Galatians 3:1-3). They boast in their wisdom, strength or riches, but their house is built upon the sand (Matthew 7:26). However, those who walk in God’s wisdom are kept safe. Since, they understand and know the Lord intimately, He exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on their behalf (Proverbs 28:26; Jeremiah 9:23-24). He delights in them and they are His people. He is their Good Shepherd and they are the sheep of His pasture (Psalm 95:7; 100:3).

A few wise individuals eventually learn that there is no use in trusting in our own efforts. Once this truth seeps into our consciousness, we start drawing near to God, resisting the devil and watching him flee from us (James 4:7). The Spirit enables us to shun evil and honor God with all of our thoughts and actions. Then, He rewards our faith with health and abundance in every area of our life. We learn to trust in the Lord with all of our heart, rather than relying on our own strength and understanding. As we seek His will for every minute of every day, He removes the ruts and bumps in our road (Proverbs 3:5-8). We eventually learn to give Him every fear and insecurity that plagues our life, because we come to understand that He really does care about us (1 Peter 5:7).

Prayer:

Father God, Your ways are perfect. Your Son is the God of truth and there is no iniquity in Him (Deuteronomy 32:4). Yet, He suffered the persecution and death of a common criminal to set us free from bondage to sin and death (Romans 6:23) and to raise us up to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4). Our old way of life is gone forever and now everything is completely new (2 Corinthians 5:17). Thank You for ordering our days and blessing us in every area of our life as we trust in You (Psalm 139:16; 2 Corinthians 9:8).

Thought for the Day:

“Lord I believe. Help my unbelief.” – Mark 9:24







Thank you, Tasha Marie, for the use of your photo...kat